Well what can I say. I received one of my copies this morning. Ripped it to my ipod and went to the gymn. On the treadmill and wham! My socks were blown off from the start. incredible. I can't believe it is so different to the Decca recording which now sounds ponderous.

Yes. There may be repercussions but I was never that sold on the Decca recording; I always felt that Rozsa over-sanitised the music, as he was inclined to do in order--I guess--to reach a larger audience. To me it always sounded like an extended concert suite for non-filmmusic types.

Incidentally, you should watch it on those treadmills with no socks!

Well, you know, as I remarked above about The Burning of Troy 'lament', I might just stand on that treadmill at its highest incline, in my bare feet, and burst forth into song for the rest of the folk in there!

That aside, I too have played the score through about 7 or 8 times already and marvel at how rich the performance sounds, particularly from my high end speakers.

Must be those brand New Neumann 150 mics we invested in and used on the Decca tree for the first time on Quo Vadis. I must admit I love their rich mid and bottom end but find the top a wee bit "fizzy" (techical talk!) ... so combined with Schoeps on the outriggers and surrounds, I think this make a marvellous string sound with just a bit of vintage plate to give it that period feel... ,

Yes. The perceived wisdom in those days seemed to be that film music rerecordings needed to be arranged into more of a concert suite style to make the music more accessible to listeners outside of its relevance to the original film. At the time I thought the Decca QUO VADIS splendidly recorded but it didn't remind much me of the film. Similarly the Polydor ROZSA CONDUCTS ROZSA LPs were great recordings with wonderful music and did much to introduce me to Rozsa but the music was nothing like that as heard in the films.

One of the prime examples occurs on "Blind Flight". It wasn't until I came to heard the original that I realized how emasculated that piece was, with perhaps the most exciting motif removed altogether. Reminds me of Vaughan Williams removing one of the most beautiful melodies he ever wrote from the final movement of the London Symphony for--apparently--no other reason than that his friends advised it.

James said : But have some patience....just enjoy QUO VADIS for now. Next title is not toooo far away

Today I received en e-mail over here in The Netherlands from Luc Van de Ven of Prometheus Records that the next release is due for December and will be a title from The Silver Ace and I quote : Still - Rosza is without a question one of my favorite composers ! ??

I love recording Rozsa...so what's next? Complete Jungle Book or Thief of Bagdad...or what? Both of those would be fantastic. Jungle Book we have in fairly complete form (I think there are a few cues that didn't survive, plus perhaps some alternates or something)...but the sound quality could certainly be improved and it's a great score. Similarly to Quo Vadis you could also record the concert suite to fill it out.

Similarly Sodom and Gomorrah would make a great candidate...I think a little bit of the score hasn't been released and the existing foreign release of the complete score has far inferior sound quality to the previous truncated album. It's a fantastic epic if you want to continue the string of Rozsa epics after El Cid and Quo Vadis...

Thief of Baghad would be fantastic but if you take this on, make sure you get in touch with John Morgan. I know the Tribute gang has helped you out before once or twice, so you may already be aware, but John has been collecting materials for Thief of Bagdad for years for a planned recording. Since it looks like Tribute might not get around to it perhaps he'd be willing to turn over the project to you.

A Double Life might also make a good candidate unless the original tapes somehow survive and sound as good as Kritzerland's recent Martha Ivers...it is the missing unreleased link in terms of his Oscar-winning work, and earlier pre-MGM Rozsa seems to be the more unrepresented area so I agree with other posters that one of his 30s scores (Four Feathers, Knight Without Armor) or many classic noirs put onto 1-2 CDs would also be exciting.

And then there's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad which desperately needs a decent recording to shine.

As I thought...even the Rozsa fans cannot agree? So I will just have to record the music I like best......which is?

See the problem is that Rozsa wrote too much great music! I'm sure that Rozsa fans will support whatever Rozsa score you record, but perhaps it's safest sales-wise in this economy to stick to the better known ones which have never received much of a release beyond suites and such. A Double Life and some of the noirs would seem to make good candidates in that case...but I'd still especially go gaga over a complete Sodom and Gomorrah in great sound.

Well the next CD to come out features a score over 15 years later than Quo Vadis.....

Let's see...1966 or thereabouts...shoot just barely too late to be a complete rerecording of Moross's (and Salter's) The War Lord (1965)! On the other hand Goldsmith's Hour of the Gun (1967) was suggested and your response was cryptic. The complete score, almost an hour long, has been lost in the original recording and we've only had the half hour album re-recording...plus it'd go well with the Red Pony suite you said you recorded. On the other hand you've expressed some interest in the past of recording the complete QB VII, which is one of my greatest wants! I think some faithful complete Goldsmith re-recordings for scores without surviving tapes is a great financial decision personally...

Similarly Sodom and Gomorrah would make a great candidate...I think a little bit of the score hasn't been released and the existing foreign release of the complete score has far inferior sound quality to the previous truncated album. It's a fantastic epic if you want to continue the string of Rozsa epics after El Cid and Quo Vadis...

It's a fantastic score without doubt, but there are a couple of things to consider:

(a) The original 2LP from Titanus/Legend had exquisite sound for the most part, as did the RCA vinyl pressings, but the Digitmovies AND BMG CD releases are both badly mastered. Each has a clipped effect because the tapes were sampled too loudly, as a waveform analysis shows. Unforgiveable. But the tapes do exist in good condition. Now Mr. Capporiccio here claims he saw ALL of the cues in some mastering project he did once stateside, so if he's right there's possibility that they'll turn up somewhere and be mastered properly. The scintillating Prologue music however was recorded later by Franco Ferrara and is allegedly lost, other than under dialogue.

(b) Rozsa himself never refers to this film in interviews when asked re his favourite scores, because he's ashamed of the film. He once said, 'They keep making biblical epics and each one is worse than the one before'. That's not really true, but it was so of the scores he was given in that genre. It'd still sell though amongst the fans.

(c) A lot of authentic Hebrew liturgical choruses of Yemenite origin. I know no-one here will give a hoot about this, but, as the Inbal Theatre told Alfred Newman on 'Greatest Story Ever Told', some people actually aren't happy about that use of this material. He used it for the most part in unadorned unison, hardly even as a composer, unlike in 'Ben-Hur' and 'King of Kings' where a few MELODIES turned up.

Thief of Baghad would be fantastic but if you take this on, make sure you get in touch with John Morgan. I know the Tribute gang has helped you out before once or twice, so you may already be aware, but John has been collecting materials for Thief of Bagdad for years for a planned recording. Since it looks like Tribute might not get around to it perhaps he'd be willing to turn over the project to you.

Y'know, if Tribute really have gone far down that route, it might be sad to deprive them of it. It's their preferred era, it's up their alley. I have a feeling Tad would consider this one next, and I'll be very happy if they do. It'd be a shame for Tribute though if that happened.

A Double Life might also make a good candidate unless the original tapes somehow survive and sound as good as Kritzerland's recent Martha Ivers...it is the missing unreleased link in terms of his Oscar-winning work, and earlier pre-MGM Rozsa seems to be the more unrepresented area so I agree with other posters that one of his 30s scores (Four Feathers, Knight Without Armor) or many classic noirs put onto 1-2 CDs would also be exciting.

'A Double Life' is a real priority as I've said above. Three Rozsa genre styles in one great score, totally neglected.

The RCA Gerhardt 'Sunstroke and River Journey' reveal just how amazing 'Four Feathers' is, and it's a famous film. Not his most independent and mature style though. A suite would be more the thing ... a long suite.

And then there's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad which desperately needs a decent recording to shine.

I'm one of the few who like the OST, because, I don't see this score as a great 'epic' piece. There's a simple purity to the score that is almost childlike (as it should be) despite the occult elements in the psychological layer of the story, so I don't compare it to the likes of 'Ben-Hur' musically. It shouldn't be that. I know many were bowled over by the Prague suite on Silva, with a bigger ensemble I think, and it sounds good, but it's not that kind of film. It sparkles with colour, but it's not angry. Few will agree with me on this. But hey .... record it, the more the merrier.

Let's see...1966 or thereabouts...shoot just barely too late to be a complete rerecording of Moross's (and Salter's) The War Lord (1965)! On the other hand Goldsmith's Hour of the Gun (1967) was suggested and your response was cryptic.

Well, that's two belters for sure. It'd be interesting to see a Tadlow soundmix on Goldsmith. As regards 'The War Lord', anyone who tries it will see a real problem with how Salter's music overwhelms the Moross in the battle stuff, and wrecks the balance of the score. That one needs thought through. Salter is good but the two don't sit that well together in this score when heard alone from the film.

Mr. McCrum lets get some fact straight. What I see was a mono up and down music only track for Sodom and Gomorrah that was at Fox. It was possibly going to be added to the laserdisc releawse, but was nixed because of lack of time. THAT had the compolee Main title, Battle music and End of Act One.

Would be fun to see a different Rozsa two cd score and just record the unrecorded bits of Sodom by Itself.

What is already of much of Sodom has too many source cues (dances, chats etc) and not enough dramatic scoreing I wouold lvoe to see a complete That Hamilton Woman.